Three Strikes
by temp0ral
Summary: In which Chara has had full control from the beginning. They'll change things around a little for their own entertainment. That monster kid is quite the runner, isn't he?


Chara was out for bloodshed.

What else is new?

Well. Perhaps besides that this time around, Chara had full control. No "player" could possibly stop them while inside the game. The only thing the outsider could do was watch, and Chara knew they would, just to satisfy some sick fascination. Morbid curiosity. The person would watch the carnage, instead of stopping the rolling waves of dust, like the good person they thought they were when they played _pacifist._

Nobody was that kind except for Frisk. And in this run, there was no Frisk. There was no mercy.

Chara walked downtown of Snowdin, leaving dragging footprints as they sloughed through the snow, one hand empty and the other dragging across the wooden surfaces of the buildings. The town was empty and desolate. Nobody in their right mind would have chosen to stay. Not after they realized the snow blowing in was dust.

Except for that infuriating kid.

He'd spotted them, obviously, because he called out to them. "Yo! You an' me are the only ones left in town, and I'm _suuuper_ bored! Do you wanna play a game or something?"

They stopped in the snow, standing perfectly still.

This was _their_ run. _Their_ territory. It was time to have some

fun.

Chara chuckled softly, a low pitch that rolled into the air like thick, bitterly warm chocolate. They turned around to face Monster Kid, a dreamy, half-lidded smile on their face. But when they spoke, their voice was considerably higher than their laugh- not definitely male nor female, but with the sure signs of preteen youth. "Sure. I'll play a game with you."

 **[ ITEM ]**

"Dude, what are you gonna need that knife for?"

They stepped forwards. The snow crunched.  
(The sound echoed in empty air.)  
They stepped forwards. The snow crunched.  
They stepped forwards. The snow crunched.

"You're freaking me out, man."

They stepped forwards. The snow crunched.  
They stepped forwards. The snow crunched.  
The wind was still. The cold was stagnant.

Chara's drifty smile never changed. "Run," they said.

"W-what?"

Their smile grew, beginning to push at the skin, threatening wrinkles and defining laughter lines. "I said, run." They raised the knife.

Monster Kid turned tail and ran.

Finally. They flipped the blade around once, then gave chase, following at a relatively slow and jogging pace, calm and powerful. They watched as Monster Kid ran, panting, panicked, tripping over and over before getting back up so fast he almost fell again. And this process went on for a while, Chara threatening to catch up several times as they followed him into the woods, until finally his foot had caught a snarl of roots.

How typical, how disappointing, and with no arms to get himself free. He was not nearly nimble enough for the job of untangling himself fast enough to get up and run again. Might as well get this over with, they think, as they swing their blade.

"N-no!"

 _._

The snarl of roots was cut- no, _shredded_ into splinters by a single stroke of a knife. A _toy_ knife.

They looked down at the kid, who was shivering from both the snow and fear, and pointed their weapon at him. "How disappointing. I thought you'd be more of a challenge. Guess I couldn't expect much from an armless kid- you trip too much.

"You go on ahead. Run. I'm not finished with you yet. And I'd stay in town where the ground's clear, if I were you."

Again, wordless except his panicked breaths for air he ran, back in the direction of town. They stayed in place for a good while, letting him get the big head start. After a time, isolated in the woods, they threw back their head, and _laughed._

It was uncontrolled and unrelenting. It was piercing, surrounding Snowdin and rattling Monster Kid's eardrums. It sounded so far from human, a cacophony of high and low pitches that rang into the otherwise stagnant air. The town was silent except for the Kid's steps, his ragged breath, and their horrible, horrible hiccups and fits of giggling.

When the air once again grew heavy, light and empty, they gave chase, ripping through the branches in their way.

Monster Kid didn't know how he could ever outrun this monster. He was being hunted like game. It was incredible how quickly they approached, as he turned corner and open the door to the Library with his tail, shutting the door behind him and making an attempt to barricade it with the bookshelves, knocking them over and pushing against the door's base. Another formed an angle with the first to lean against the window, leaving air between them. It proved a difficult task with their weight and Monster Kid's lack of limbs, but he made progress, and decent progress at that. At least, to him. Under the weight of wood and books, the door couldn't move. Right?

Right?

Apparently, Chara has zero respect for education. Their knife rammed through the door in the space under the window and over the bottom. Splinters flew. Another slice, another slice, and a foot was all it took to put a hole through the barrier. Their hands grasped at the ragged edges sides, heedless of the spiked wood, and leg by arm, head by body they pushed themselves through, hands bleeding, grin wide.

Monster Kid backed against the Librarby's far wall where a shelf once stood, wallpaper colors mismatched with age and dustbunnies freed to light. Again in so short a time he was caught.

"Tsk, tsk," Chara said, shaking their head, wagging their knife in lieu of a disapproving finger. "You're disappointing. Really. And not a good listener at all."

Their leg moved swiftly and connected with the bookshelf laid at an angle against the window, knocking it over with a sharp and startling _WHUNK._ Placing their knife between their teeth in some stubborn refusal to let go, they dragged away the shelf holding the withered door's base.

Chara took the knife back in their bleeding hand. With that same hand, they started picking out the splinters from the other. "I thought I told you to _run._ "

Monster Kid bolted.

They left through the hole in the door. He'd never run so hard and fast in his life, even to go see his favorite hero, Undyne-

 _Undyne!_ She could save him! She was the strongest, ever! The heroine that could NEVER lose!

Right?

He heard the crunching sound of fast feet, and looked over his shoulder to a frightening sight: Chara had given him a head start, but now they were full-on _sprinting._ He almost screamed, but it caught in his throat, and for those few seconds he was distracted by their run. They were running a speed faster than any normal person should be able to. But, fast or not, he had to _go._ He'd find Undyne, and then he'd be safe. Past Grillby's, past the skeleton house, past everything. All he had to do was make it to Waterfall.

All he had to do is run. It was all he _could_ do.

Monster Kid was fast, but Chara was faster.

On the path with the snowy fog, they took a flying leap and tackled the lizard into the ground, knees on his back. The lack of arms made it easier for them- they just had to sit back on his prehensile tail, and they had their arms free for dusting.

He was squirming and shouting desperately, but Chara's strength was unrivaled. They never let go.

"Please! _Please!_ PLEASE! Let me GO! I swear I won't bug you again!"

They sat there, doing nothing but smiling sweetly, letting Monster Kid shout himself hoarse. Scattered, winding apologies, great big promises, oaths and swears and whatever else. They didn't need to hear any of that. It wasn't important to either of them. It wasn't like he'd get the opportunity to carry any of them out, after all.

They leaned down, and the Kid, sensing movement, froze. He didn't know what was going on. Would they let him go again? Had they finally decided to kill him? No. No! _He didn't want to die!_

He felt the tickle of Chara's hair on the back of his neck and in his ear. Their head was very close to his.

" _Three strikes,"_ they whispered, a voice so quiet it would have been easily drowned out, if not for the silence.

 _You're out._


End file.
